Author Interview with Michael Rothman

The DMS was lucky enough to interview Michael Rothman. Lizzy recently reviewed his story Heirs of Prophecy, and it was great to share our thoughts about it and hear yours. We are excited to learn a little bit more about the story behind the story. So, without further ado... take it away, Michael!

What inspired you to write Heirs of Prophecy?

My children inspired my writing. My first novel stems directly from a bed time tale I would tell my children that over time evolved and got more elaborate. So instead of making things up on-the-fly, I decided to write the outline for what ended up being HEIRS OF PROPHECY, TOOLS OF PROPHECY, LORDS OF PROPHECY - and a soon-to-be-released title PRINCESS INTERRUPTED which is actually a prequel to the entire series.

How long did it take you to write Heirs of Prophecy? Which book in the series took the longest to write?

Heirs went pretty quickly as these things go. It took me about 2 months to write, another 2 months for a couple rounds of editing. I think Lords Of Prophecy being the longest book did take longer. Probably 3mo + 3mo. That's my portion of the time. It doesn't include overhead associated with publishing etc. 

What was your inspiration for the characters Throll and Mr. Riverton?

Well, Jared Riverton (the father) was very much modeled against myself. I'm an engineer, he oddly enough is an engineer. Etc.

As to Throll, some things are simply inspired and not necessarily modeled against a particular person. I suppose that's the creative aspect of the process. I'd not necessarily envisioned some of the characters I put into the story until I actually got to a particular section of the story. And when that did happen - voila! The Birth of Throll, or many of the others.

What are some of your favorite books from childhood? Were there any specific authors who inspired you?

The one classic that stands head and shoulders above them all was J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. 

The Hobbit – my first Fantasy book, and by far the one that set me on the road I’ve walked in this genre. It established a variety of archetypes that I believe many authors since have followed whether purposefully or accidentally. The concepts and behaviors introduced with the character races as stereotypes are certainly things that have influenced my view on writing. For instance a reader might find my elves somewhat stoic and serious and the dwarves a touch boisterous and hard-working. As it was the first book in the genre I read, it was the measuring stick by which all future books were compared against.

I think the thing that draws me to Fantasy is that the genre doesn’t really limit what you can do as long as you make it believable. Your setting could be on the Jelly world of Blignartz where everyone is made of Peanut Butter. (Okay, maybe that one is a bit odd – but illustrates my point.) Or your setting could draw from the now classic archetypes set by Tolkien and have some elves, dwarves, etc all thrown into an otherwise pastoral world called Trimoria.

It then is up to the author to add his or her own storyline and break any perceived rules if it seems right.

If you could live anyplace real or fictional, where would it be? Why?

Actually, I've joked about this - but am quite serious from a real life perspective. I love the weather in the Seattle, Washington area, but loved the Austin city itself. So if I could combine the weather of Seattle and Austin in one new city - I'd love to live there.

If you could befriend a character from one of your books, who would you befriend? Why?

I'm somewhat partial to Ohaobbok. I've always wanted a much larger friend who would keep the riffraff away - I'd suspect he'd be a good candidate. :-)

The Rivertons have some amazing talents. What special talent would you want? Why?

I personally like some of Ryan's abilities. Especially the ones he gathered in later books. Ability to create a shield, become invisible, or toss fire about. Quite a fun combination.

Are you currently working on a book? If so, can you tell us a little bit about it?

I am working on the first book of a YA book with the working title of RUNNING FROM DESTINY.

The prophecies of the old gods are lying in the dust, the citizens of the world are in turmoil, and the populace of Earth is staring into an abyss. Yet everyone is oblivious to it, even Jason Rogers.

What can Jason, a seventeen-year-old aspiring linguist, do about any of this? Being chased by the government officials he's convinced are aiming to kill him, he's met a crazy man. One who talks about the world being on the brink of doom and claims to be fifteen-hundred years old. The man is trying to convince Jason that he has a destiny written thousands of years ago in some ancient tome. Jason doesn't believe any of this. What sane person would?

Will Jason continue to run from his destiny or learn to face what the crazy man is telling him. Are there really secret societies, demons, magic, and other worlds? Could he really be telling the truth? In the meantime - the world is teetering on the edge of an abyss. Time is running out.

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